The S80 is Volvo‘s latest recipient of the 2.4-litre diesel engine upgrades, which increase power while reducing CO2 output.
In this case the 2.4D jumps from 163PS to 175PS while CO2, at 155g/km, is now in the sub-161g/km capital allowance and the 22% benefit-in-kind company car tax bands.
The increase in power is a welcome addition and puts performance close to that of the previous 183PS D5 engine. For the record the new D5 now produces 204PS.
There’s also an improvement in consumption, which is now an official 47.9mpg. On our test we found that with little eco-driving effort we easily achieved more than this figure. The result was a ‘distance to empty’ figure on the trip computer of 840 miles, or 55.0mpg.
But the S80 isn’t without a few niggles, the manual gearbox car is still equipped with a dash-based fly-off handbrake that needs the driver to lean forward to deactivate, and the engine could do with a touch more refinement.
However, it’s still one of the most comfortable cars in its class and is reasonably well equipped against rival vehicles at this price.
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